Q: "lanechtskipt"

[W Brewer]

Full text of "Customs & Fashions in Old New England" is in Project
Gutenberg. Sea lions, catamounts, and polar bears, oh my! From chapter X.
Sports & Diversions:
In 1789 a pair of camels went the rounds--"19 hands high, with 4 joints in
their hind legs." A mermaid also was exhibited--defunct, I presume--and a
living cassowary five feet high, that swallowed stones as large as an egg.
A white sea bear appeared in the port of Pollard's Tavern and could be seen
for half a pistareen. A forlorn moose was held in bondage at Major King's
tavern and shown for nine pence, while to view the "leapord strongly
chayned" cost a quarter. The big hog, being a home production, could be
seen cheaply--for four pence. It is indeed
curious to find a rabbit among "curious wild beasts." The Winthrops had tried
to breed rabbits in 1633 and again in 1683, and if they had not succeeded
were the only souls known to fail in that facile endeavor. To their shame
be it told, Salem folk announced in 1809 a bull-fight at the Half-Way House
on the new turnpike, and after the bull-fight a fox-chase. In 1735 John
Burlesson had some strange animals to show, and was not always allowed to
exhibit them either: "the Lyon, the Black and Whight bare and the
Lanechtskipt were shown by me that had their limbs
as long as they pleased."

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